Outboard and inboard-outboard motors for boats have enjoyed wide popularity and success for many years. Due to the fact that these motors are quite expensive, it is of prime importance to the owners thereof to receive maximum use of the motors as long as operable life is possible. To attain maximum years of operation of a boat motor, it is essential that preventive maintenance be performed by the owner. A major preventive maintenance measure that must be taken by an owner of a boat with a motor thereon is to periodically flush and clean the motor with fresh, unsalted, water especially when the motor is used in a saltwater environment.
To accomplish the internal cleaning of such motors, the general procedure is to force clean, fresh, water into the interior of the motor through the cooling inlet ports in the outdrive of the motor. In normal running operation of the motor, the inlet ports allow water to be circulated within the motor for cooling purposes. By forcing clean, unsalted, water through the motor by use of a flushing device, the clean, fresh, water cleanses or removes saltwater or corrosion from the working parts of the motor.
Numerous prior art devices are in existence and are commercially available which are designed to force clean, fresh, water through the inlet ports and motor to cleanse and flush many of the working parts of the motor. These devices take many forms and are represented in the following United States patents: U.S. Pat No. 3,002,488 to Guhlin; U.S. Pat. No. 3,931,828 to Lawler; U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,863 to Reese; U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,063 to Carlson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,540,009 to Karis; U.S. Pat. No. 4,729, 393 to Ferguson; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,973,276 to Mavrelis.
While each of the prior art devices identified hereinabove are useful to accomplish the forcing of clean, fresh, water through a motor to cleanse and flush the interior of a motor, each requires the placement of a flushing device over the water inlet ports on the foot of the outdrive of the motor. This placement, due to the inherent design of each device, often becomes extremely inconvenient and possibly dangerous particularly since the cleaning and flushing of the motor most often occurs when the motor, together with the boat, is supported on davits or cradle lifts in a suspended fashion several feet above the water. With the boat and motor in such suspended position, each of the flushing devices of the prior art devices identified hereinabove, with the exception of those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,246,863 and 4,973,276, require direct access to the water inlet ports in the foot of the outdrive of the motor. Thus, the person doing the flushing must position himself in the water or suspend himself out of the boat in a perilous position.
While each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,246,863 and 4,973,276 teaches the use of rigid poles or rods for placing the flushing device over the water inlet ports in the foot of the outdrive of an outboard motor or an inboard-outboard motor from either the starboard (right) of the boat or the port (left) of the boat, none of the known prior art apparatuses allows the ready and unperilous placing of the flushing device over the water inlet ports from any of four directions, each being displaced approximately ninety degrees from one another at the twelve, three, six and nine o'clock positions. That is, none of the prior art apparatuses allow the safe and remote placement of the flushing device over the inlet ports of the outdrive of the motor from the right and left of the boats as well as from within the boat (above the motor) and below the boat and motor.
Accordingly, there is a need for a universal clamp (connector) assembly for supporting a flushing device to allow a person to place the flushing device over the water inlet ports of a motor of a suspended boat from any of four remotely located positions without subjecting the person to uncomfortable or possibly perilous situations.